Rescuer Faces Fear to Bring Dogs an Easter Miracle

I woke up to my birthday without much excitement, but more trepidation as certain events were due to happen and I was feeling worried. A few days before, we had heard about two dogs, abandoned by their hunter owner and condemned to starve. He simply didnít want them anymore, they were surplus to requirements and he just didnít care. This is not unusual in Spain and especially after the hunting season, when there are many dogs needing rescuing.

The younger generation in Spain seems to have more empathy towards the plight of these animals and this manís goddaughter had heard about our association and she asked for help and advice. We donít often come into contact with the type of person like this girlís godfather; they are usually long gone by the time their dogs are rescued, if the dogs are lucky enough to still be alive.

The owners are often brutal and vicious men, without conscience of what they do to their dogs and have been known to retaliate towards anyone who challenges them about their behavior, or reports them. So it was shocking that when the dogs arrived at my village and to my gate, the shameless owner was in tow. I had to let them come for me, as my car had been loaned out for the day. If only I had known!

Under Angry Breath, I Remained Calm

ĎFour hundred euros,í I asked for, under an angry breath. Did he think in this terrible economic crisis, that he can dump dogs on us, a charity and leave us to pay for the dogsí board, their sterilization and the poor thin and sick looking creatureís vetís bills, now that he had discarded them?† We are not even a rescue charity, but an association trying to make changes for the animals in Spain. However, we were determined to prosecute and the only way, is to try to save the dogs first. The danger with reporting abuse to the police first is that they could confiscate them to the pound and they would probably die anyway.

He was scary and I was nervous, but for the dogsí sake and his poor goddaughter, I remained calm. In the car, I was unwittingly sitting next to a Galguero (a Spanish hunter) that uses dogs for hunting. In general, they have a reputation for the most unbelievable cruelty and murder of thousands of hunting dogs at the end of each season. Dogs are hanged, with their back legs just touching the ground; it is a slow and painful deaths for these beautiful dogs that have done nothing other than serve their masters. The Spanish government still insists on ignoring the truth of this, whilst us rescuers, associations and many people protest and beg for it to end. Hardly anyone knows what goes on, or to what extent and how bad it is.

My Heart was Beating Out of My Chest….

There I was, sitting next to this man, my skin crawling with a feeling of intense hatred and my whole being filled with all of the anger I felt towards every galguero whose dog I have seen dead, mutilated, or suffering. What was I to do? My mind was running wild, but I had to respect the poor girl who had persuaded her godfather to give up these two poor souls.

Before rescue, the dogs were living like this

When we got out of the car, the dogs were in a trailer, behind the car, enclosed inside and transported like pieces of equipment, the typical way of transporting these dogs. The dogs looked terrible! I was upset to the core but held my tongue whilst my heart beat out of my chest.

We took the dogs and they just left me there stranded. The dog’s former owner told his goddaughter it would have been less trouble for him to shoot the dogs.

Safe now and drinking buckets of water

The dogs are safe in residency now. They need care, which they are receiving and when they arrived, they were covered with ticks, fleas and parasites and were extremely thirsty and hungry.

They drank literally buckets of water and were so sad and scared. Today they are looking better and they are happier.

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Spain is one of the worst european countries, besides the hunting dogs, thei kille the greyhounds when they don't need then anymore, the have shelters where all dogs are killed within 10 days and then of course they have the terrible corrida

My heart just cries out to these poor defenseless animals. Where does all this meaness come from? Why and how do they think of such haness things to do to these poor babies. I say lets hang the bastards doing the meaness by there balls and let us all watch as they die a slow painfull death. Stupid, Ignorant people. Straighten up and start acting like caring, loving adults.

I remember reading a very similar post such as the one above almost a year ago. It was about the ill-treatment of hunting dogs in Spain. Spanish people are brutal towards animals and that is why we have all sorts of cruel practices and 'sports' like bull-fights, riding horses through flames, setting live bulls on fire and so on. Apparently, such horrific activities are backed by the Roman Catholic Church. The Church has overlooked such deeds of their faithful since the last millennium hoping that the Good Lord above will bless the Church for such crimes against innocent animals. It is time the Spanish government, made their citizens more sensitive,civilized and ethical and, with the new Pope Francis who has been speaking about the protection of the creation, should reform the hearts of these cruel Spanish idiots. I hope the younger generation of Spanish people shun all these regressive anti-environment and anti-animal practices.

LOL Linda.......thankfully I read your second post cuz the first one didn't make any sense to me!

On a more serious note, NO animal should EVER have to live like this, EVER.

And to Eric, what these scumbags absolutely need is to be punished. I have read stories about animals who have been doused with gasoline and set on fire, a kitten who was thrown into an oven, animals who have had their limbs amputated to keep them from jumping or what not, animals who have been scalded, beheaded, skinned alive, slowly starved to death, thrown down laundry chutes, home declaws that went so badly the kittens had to be euthanized, a kitten who was encased in cement, kittens who were stoned by teenaged boys as they were being born, animals who have been drowned, a dog in Bosnia who had a firecracker duct taped around his muzzle and on and on and on.

What these perps need is punishment and nothing short of the same treatment they served up to their victims. We, as a society, should not be accepting of any kind of animal abuse in any form. And no sympathy or second chances for those who do the abusing.